Ron Covell's Workshop - Makin' it With Metal

One of the best things about this hobby is that we will never know everything about it. We can just keep learning and learning and expanding our skills and knowledge. One of the biggest areas of growth that doesn't really have to do with technology at all is metalwork. With the rise in automotive-based cable TV shows over the last decade more and more people have been buying welders and metalworking tools. This could be anything from basic hammers and dollies, to shrinker/stretchers, to an English wheel, and up to a small and powerful inverter-based TIG welder. But no matter how much equipment you buy, you need to learn how to use it and what better way to find out than from someone who has been doing it for 40 years!

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Ron Covell is no stranger to most of you who read his Professor Hammer column each month in the back of CLASSIC TRUCKS, and many of you probably have some of his informative metalworking DVDs, but there's nothing like seeing the magic happen firsthand. To fill this need, Ron teaches different metalworking classes all over the country and even abroad. I was lucky enough to have already sat in on his beginning class a year or two ago and jumped to sign up for the advanced sheetmetal class when I saw that he was doing one at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff in Escondido, California.

Ron's goal for the one-day workshop was to make a rear fender for a '34 Ford from scratch, pretty much from start to finish in eight hours. He starts with a few of the pieces already cut out from flat sheets to save time, but at each step throughout the process, Ron stops and has a Q&A with the class about how to approach the piece. Metalworking is all about doing the job with the least amount of work that will yield the best results, but there is more than one way to do just about anything. This comes into play when you may or may not have the optimum tool for a job like an English wheel. Ron took time to show how to do each step with a different set of tools as well, and always welcomes questions and thoughts from the class, which can wind up even teaching him a few things.

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Ron always incorporates a show-and-tell in the classes so those in attendance can share their work and even get input on any projects they are working on. By the time 4:30 p.m. rolled around Ron was putting the final bit of weld to the fender followed by some planishing hammer work, and the fender was complete. For more information on Ron Covell's Workshops and his DVD series, log onto www.covell.biz or call 800-747-4631. Until then keep practicing!